There's something wrong when a significant increase in the quality of life comes with dogged study of stomach and colon cancer. However, that's the case - I was in a funk, plodding through pharm, and hoping fro some respite from the tedium. Finally, I started path - this is the fun stuff about the basic sciences. I've got about a month left in this run, and once I finish the path, there will only be behavioral science and review work.
I've decided that my new favorite show is ABC's Flash Forward. The show centers around this global blackout in which everyone glimpsed a few moments of their future in 6 months. It's been alright up to now - I need explosions and shooting to balance the drama of Gray's Anatomy and Brothers and Sisters - but the episode I watched yesterday (Gimme some Truth) may be one of my favorite episodes of any show ever. It was done so well, I might watch it again.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Kinda makes you wonder.
I'm doing path right now at the Kaplan center, and the guy is absolutely terrible. Nicole and I both agree - every single pathology professor we had on the island was better than this one, who, apparently, teaches at some top ten US med school. I sit and listen to him drone on and on, yammering endlessly about how the color of butter changes because cows eat grain in the winter and grass in the summer, and I can't help but feel like my time is being wasted. Kaplan's been pretty good to me thus far - but this is incredibly annoying. Pathology is supposed to be the most high-yield subject for this exam, and so far, it's the worst Kaplan has to offer. Thankfully, the BRS is awesome (although, I'm a little miffed that a new edition was released just after I purchased mine), and much of my review material is full of notes from when I was studying for the Comp.
Anyway, it's days like this that make me realize that I'm very lucky to have had some of the professors I had, even though I had to go to the ends of the earth to listen to their lectures.
A funny thing happened to me today - these kinds of things used to happen all the time, but something changed (I don't know what it was) in the past few years. Things in the distance have been blurrier than I like (it's just nearsightedness and not macular degeneration - I diagnosed it myself. I can do that. Sort of.), so I've been making sure to rest my eyes by going out onto the balcony and staring off into the distance. I was doing just that today, when two young women passed on the opposite sidewalk, and one of them shouted up to me "You look like a model!" I shouted back a thank you - maybe I should wear scrub pants and t-shirts more often. I'd say that they were attractive young women, but let's not forget what I was doing out there in the first place.
On another note, I think this country has got it all wrong - the Senate just voted to dump another $50 million annually into abstinence-education. It's just about the most asinine thing imaginable - you can't legislate away an evolutionary imperative, especially not when the target population has a mind-numbingly feeble grasp of outcomes and consequences. Instead of wasting all of that money, which really ought to be going towards something useful, they should let teenagers know how it really is - I've copied below an excerpt from a letter sent to Prudence at Slate.com.
"Annapolis, Md.: I have recently found out from a very good friend of mine that she has herpes. She's had it for many years. She is sexually active and very attractive. She has a history of many relationships.
The problem is that she does not tell her boyfriends that she has herpes. I sometimes get introduced to her partners and feel sorry for them. My friend does not tell them about her condition because, in the past, when she has told them (usually after they exhibited symptoms of herpes themselves), they no longer want to have anything to do with her. She wants very much to get married and feels that, after she is married, she will tell her new husband when the time is right.
Her excuse for this is that the "major" part of the population already has herpes and just doesn't know it. My respect for her as a friend has been weakened ever since she confided this to me.
Here is my question: The next time she introduces me to a new boyfriend, should I give him the news that his new girl is herpes positive ... or just stay out of it? "
Prudie's response isn't the important part here - it's that there are millions of people like this! I wouldn't tell kids not to have sex - sure, I'd share with them research about the emotional changes tied to certain ages, various cancer and pregnancy risks, et cetera - but what I'd focus on, is this:
"You can get diseases from sex."
My crowd would murmur in agreement - actually, if I'm talking to young folks, there'd be a lot of nervous giggling.
"A lot of those diseases will stay with you for the rest of your life."
Maybe more nervous laughter.
"You can't look at someone and know if they have a disease...there may not be any signs at all."
Things would quiet down a bit; I'd look out over the crowd and see the wheels turning.
"The person you have sex with might not even tell you that they might have a disease. You won't know anything's wrong until you wake up one day and your privates are covered in painful blisters and sores, and you're wondering what the hell happened. Then you'll remember that this will never go away. And that's just herpes....that's not one that can kill you."
Dead silence.
Now...how can I get in on that $50 million?
Anyway, it's days like this that make me realize that I'm very lucky to have had some of the professors I had, even though I had to go to the ends of the earth to listen to their lectures.
A funny thing happened to me today - these kinds of things used to happen all the time, but something changed (I don't know what it was) in the past few years. Things in the distance have been blurrier than I like (it's just nearsightedness and not macular degeneration - I diagnosed it myself. I can do that. Sort of.), so I've been making sure to rest my eyes by going out onto the balcony and staring off into the distance. I was doing just that today, when two young women passed on the opposite sidewalk, and one of them shouted up to me "You look like a model!" I shouted back a thank you - maybe I should wear scrub pants and t-shirts more often. I'd say that they were attractive young women, but let's not forget what I was doing out there in the first place.
On another note, I think this country has got it all wrong - the Senate just voted to dump another $50 million annually into abstinence-education. It's just about the most asinine thing imaginable - you can't legislate away an evolutionary imperative, especially not when the target population has a mind-numbingly feeble grasp of outcomes and consequences. Instead of wasting all of that money, which really ought to be going towards something useful, they should let teenagers know how it really is - I've copied below an excerpt from a letter sent to Prudence at Slate.com.
"Annapolis, Md.: I have recently found out from a very good friend of mine that she has herpes. She's had it for many years. She is sexually active and very attractive. She has a history of many relationships.
The problem is that she does not tell her boyfriends that she has herpes. I sometimes get introduced to her partners and feel sorry for them. My friend does not tell them about her condition because, in the past, when she has told them (usually after they exhibited symptoms of herpes themselves), they no longer want to have anything to do with her. She wants very much to get married and feels that, after she is married, she will tell her new husband when the time is right.
Her excuse for this is that the "major" part of the population already has herpes and just doesn't know it. My respect for her as a friend has been weakened ever since she confided this to me.
Here is my question: The next time she introduces me to a new boyfriend, should I give him the news that his new girl is herpes positive ... or just stay out of it? "
Prudie's response isn't the important part here - it's that there are millions of people like this! I wouldn't tell kids not to have sex - sure, I'd share with them research about the emotional changes tied to certain ages, various cancer and pregnancy risks, et cetera - but what I'd focus on, is this:
"You can get diseases from sex."
My crowd would murmur in agreement - actually, if I'm talking to young folks, there'd be a lot of nervous giggling.
"A lot of those diseases will stay with you for the rest of your life."
Maybe more nervous laughter.
"You can't look at someone and know if they have a disease...there may not be any signs at all."
Things would quiet down a bit; I'd look out over the crowd and see the wheels turning.
"The person you have sex with might not even tell you that they might have a disease. You won't know anything's wrong until you wake up one day and your privates are covered in painful blisters and sores, and you're wondering what the hell happened. Then you'll remember that this will never go away. And that's just herpes....that's not one that can kill you."
Dead silence.
Now...how can I get in on that $50 million?
Monday, October 19, 2009
A Precarious Position
Today's step prep day 47 - it's our day off, so we ran some errands, squeezed in some gym time, and finally confirmed our official testing date (it all goes down 11/19/2009). I just finished the pharmacology review, and am all set to start pathology tomorrow. I still want to review the pharm, but I've hit a dangerous period in my studies - that place where I'm just tired of it. The last time this happened was somewhere around 4th semester, after an unrelenting onslaught of shelf exams, and - if I recall correctly - just before the microbiology shelf. I was trying to use every second to force myself to study, but something in my brain shut down and decided that I needed to spend the day watching free-running on Youtube. Luckily, when that hit me last night, I saw it coming. I'd wanted to review a bit today, but since I haven't, I won't beat myself up over it. A cold front blew in yesterday (it's down in the 60s now....I don't know what's going on), so we didn't go sit down and read by the pool. Partly to save my eyes the strain, I did, however, sit with Nicole and watch an episode of Brothers and Sisters and one of Private Practice. Then I watched Adaptation.
Hopefully the fire'll be back tomorrow. It's kind of not an option.
Hopefully the fire'll be back tomorrow. It's kind of not an option.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Macular Degeneration
I don't like how all of this time spent staring at a book or a computer screen is killing my vision. Not that I'm getting reading headaches - it's my far vision. I first noticed somewhere around my third semester that the distant crystal clarity I'd enjoyed for all of my life was just a touch out of focus - so, after studying for a while, I'd sit on my balcony and stare down the cow trail towards campus, forcing myself to pick out the most distant object my lenses could resolve. There's less time to do that now, but at least I can come home from the kaplan center and stare from the balcony into the downtown Miami.
Monday, October 12, 2009
All's Quiet On This Front
I enjoy thumbing my nose at unrest. While I was living at home (I can't remember when, exactly), working at some job or another, a hurricane brewed ominously on the coast, and people began to panic, and to prepare. I went to our local grocery store - H.E.B. - not because I wanted to pick up batteries and baby food, distilled water and duct tape like everyone else...no, I distinctly remember craving key-lime pie. That was it - nothing else; and so I stood in line with my trophy, while the anxious shoppers around me glared at my flippancy, giving me the dirty eye - or, what we call ojo. I enjoy thumbing my nose at unrest, but not because I am unsympathetic to the plight of others - I only thumb my nose at unrest that doesn't touch me. I'd been pleased that this economic nosedive hasn't affected me that much - sure, my bank was bailed out, but my money's fine (last I checked). Since I'm a student, I won't be looking for a job anytime soon. Thus, while this plague of decaying money rages around me, it's almost as if I sit calmly in the eye, eating my plum-filled Christmas pie.
That is....until now. Our landlord has been weaving through the process of refinancing this condo since before we moved in at the end of April. Florida, it seems, has some of the most atrocious sub-prime mortgage travesties, and the fallout continues to spiral. I'm not sure I've mentioned this before, but we're living in an area of considerable wealth, although the changing times have certainly taken a toll; when I last lived her, Lamborghinis and Ferraris were as commonplace as Fords and Chevvy's in most cities. Now, it's the lower-end BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis that seem to be the in thing, with a few Bentleys thrown in for good measure. Nevertheless, our landlord is apparently being foreclosed-upon. Now, this doesn't terribly upset me - I'm planning on being long-gone by the time anything is done about it, but I like our landlord; he's been very easy to work with, and I hope that things work out well for him.
I'm sure things are going to work out well for us. Nicole and I have decided to push the STEP back a few days, in order to better buttress our learning, and to leave time for last-minute tweaks. The pace of study has been moving along nicely, with subjects being completed in a timely manner - we've been doing questions in the morning, watching lectures in the afternoons, and hitting the books in the evening, and I've thankfully finished with the first year nonsense. Pharmacology, while it may be tedious, was actually fun for me, and it was the one subject in which I took meticulous notes - that was how I did so well, and, luckily, that's what I'm doing right now. Knowing myself, though, I'm in danger of resting on my laurels and not pushing myself, so I've got to make sure that, even though I think I've got it, and have done well on nearly everything pharm-related that I've ever done, I don't take it too lightly.
Today's our day off - that's the only reason you're hearing from me. These days of rest have fallen into a pleasant pattern - we'll get up, go to the gym, and then go shopping. Nicole likes the produce department at Publix despite the hideousness of their bananas, so that's where we go, with an obligatory stop by Target. Then, we'll go sit and read by the pool for a few hours, before fixing dinner for the week, and relaxing a bit. I like that things have fallen into a pattern, because it allows me to read and enjoy myself, without resenting the dogged determination with which I have to approach my studies ("CARPE" has become my new motto). I've managed to get through Malcolm Gladwell's ternion of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers, and I'm pleased to say that each was better than the last. I also finally managed to finish Raymond Feist's Magician: Apprentice - I've been working through it a few pages at a time all semester, and it's done. I picked it up because it's supposed to be one of those classic fantasy books that I always felt I should have been exposed to. Speaking of fantasy, though, I've finally broken down and ordered George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, which was the fantasy novel of its year. I tend to judge some books based on their amazon reviews, and this one has something like 1400 reviews, mostly positive - that's....well, that's Harry Potter, or Twilight level popularity.
The thing is, though, the rest of the Game of Thrones series has fallen into a trap that's plaguing epic fantasy right now - a new author will write a fantastic book, and then keep on writing, not knowing when to quit. The fervor whipped up by their novel nuances and characterizations proves too much of a money cow to pen final chapters, and so they keep going and going and going - the Wheel of Time series, the Sword of Truth series, the Malazan series - they all seem to fall into the same pattern. One author has even died before completing his works. Now, I'm all for epic-ness (thanks, Tolkienn), but some folks oughta know when enough's enough. That being said, I'm only committing myself to the first book in this series, since it's supposed to be all down-hill from here. However, I'm not going to start it just yet; in light of Fox's show "Lie to Me", which is based on the groundbreaking work of Dr. Paul Ekman - as well as Gladwell's references to Ekman in Blink, I've picked up Dr. Ekman's book Emotions Revealed - it seems like my kinda thing.
Despite all of this excitement over escapist literature (that's right...for me, even mainstream psych lit is escapist), many hours a day are still spent poring over Kaplan's green books. Such is life.
That is....until now. Our landlord has been weaving through the process of refinancing this condo since before we moved in at the end of April. Florida, it seems, has some of the most atrocious sub-prime mortgage travesties, and the fallout continues to spiral. I'm not sure I've mentioned this before, but we're living in an area of considerable wealth, although the changing times have certainly taken a toll; when I last lived her, Lamborghinis and Ferraris were as commonplace as Fords and Chevvy's in most cities. Now, it's the lower-end BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis that seem to be the in thing, with a few Bentleys thrown in for good measure. Nevertheless, our landlord is apparently being foreclosed-upon. Now, this doesn't terribly upset me - I'm planning on being long-gone by the time anything is done about it, but I like our landlord; he's been very easy to work with, and I hope that things work out well for him.
I'm sure things are going to work out well for us. Nicole and I have decided to push the STEP back a few days, in order to better buttress our learning, and to leave time for last-minute tweaks. The pace of study has been moving along nicely, with subjects being completed in a timely manner - we've been doing questions in the morning, watching lectures in the afternoons, and hitting the books in the evening, and I've thankfully finished with the first year nonsense. Pharmacology, while it may be tedious, was actually fun for me, and it was the one subject in which I took meticulous notes - that was how I did so well, and, luckily, that's what I'm doing right now. Knowing myself, though, I'm in danger of resting on my laurels and not pushing myself, so I've got to make sure that, even though I think I've got it, and have done well on nearly everything pharm-related that I've ever done, I don't take it too lightly.
Today's our day off - that's the only reason you're hearing from me. These days of rest have fallen into a pleasant pattern - we'll get up, go to the gym, and then go shopping. Nicole likes the produce department at Publix despite the hideousness of their bananas, so that's where we go, with an obligatory stop by Target. Then, we'll go sit and read by the pool for a few hours, before fixing dinner for the week, and relaxing a bit. I like that things have fallen into a pattern, because it allows me to read and enjoy myself, without resenting the dogged determination with which I have to approach my studies ("CARPE" has become my new motto). I've managed to get through Malcolm Gladwell's ternion of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers, and I'm pleased to say that each was better than the last. I also finally managed to finish Raymond Feist's Magician: Apprentice - I've been working through it a few pages at a time all semester, and it's done. I picked it up because it's supposed to be one of those classic fantasy books that I always felt I should have been exposed to. Speaking of fantasy, though, I've finally broken down and ordered George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, which was the fantasy novel of its year. I tend to judge some books based on their amazon reviews, and this one has something like 1400 reviews, mostly positive - that's....well, that's Harry Potter, or Twilight level popularity.
The thing is, though, the rest of the Game of Thrones series has fallen into a trap that's plaguing epic fantasy right now - a new author will write a fantastic book, and then keep on writing, not knowing when to quit. The fervor whipped up by their novel nuances and characterizations proves too much of a money cow to pen final chapters, and so they keep going and going and going - the Wheel of Time series, the Sword of Truth series, the Malazan series - they all seem to fall into the same pattern. One author has even died before completing his works. Now, I'm all for epic-ness (thanks, Tolkienn), but some folks oughta know when enough's enough. That being said, I'm only committing myself to the first book in this series, since it's supposed to be all down-hill from here. However, I'm not going to start it just yet; in light of Fox's show "Lie to Me", which is based on the groundbreaking work of Dr. Paul Ekman - as well as Gladwell's references to Ekman in Blink, I've picked up Dr. Ekman's book Emotions Revealed - it seems like my kinda thing.
Despite all of this excitement over escapist literature (that's right...for me, even mainstream psych lit is escapist), many hours a day are still spent poring over Kaplan's green books. Such is life.
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